Multicultural Communication and its Origin
Write a word response to the following questions:
Explain multicultural communication and its origins.
Compare and contrast culture, ethnicity, and acculturation.
Explain how cultural and religious differences affect the health care professional and the issues that can arise in cross-cultural communications.
Discuss family culture and its effect on patient education.
List some approaches the health care professional can use to address religious and cultural diversity.
List the types of illiteracy.
Discuss illiteracy as a disability.
Give examples of some myths about illiteracy.
Explain how to assess literacy skills and evaluate written material for readability.
Identify ways a health care professional may establish effective communication.
Suggest ways the health care professional can help a patient remember instructions.
Sample Paper
Advanced Patient care
Multicultural Communication and its Origin
Multicultural communication is the diverse cultural interactions in politics, sociology, and economics. In healthcare, it means the ability of healthcare officials to understand different cultures and translate patient education. Advanced technology has enhanced communication and faster movement of people from one destination to another, enabling interactions between persons of different cultures and origins.
Culture, Ethnicity, and Acculturation
Culture, ethnicity, and acculturation forms a person’s basis of identity and is significant for grouping people into their original and newly acquired cultural traits. The culture or acculturation of an ethnic group is shown by the individuals’ language, clothing, and eating practices. Culture and acculturation are also easily transferred from one lineage to another. On the other hand, ethnicity differs from one ancestral line to another, and it cannot be influenced as individuals change their locality or habitat.
How Cultural and Religious differences affect Health care Professional and issues that can arise in Cross-cultural Communication
The belief system of different cultures on the cause of sickness, treatment procedure, and the person mandated for the healing process differs. The attitude of patients towards treatment is majorly determined by cultural feelings (Ragusa, 2021). According to westernized nations, diseases are caused by a natural scientific occurrence, and unique treatment methods have been proposed to combat microorganisms.
Discovering the religious and cultural needs in the hospital setting can help health professionals to understand two broad issues. First, certain beliefs align with the patients’ health and are essential in decision making, support networks, and commitment treatment process. Second, patients’ perception of how their beliefs are accepted and supported at the hospital.
Family Culture and its effect on Patient Education
Family members share certain traits that separate them from other existing groups. Cultural diversity influences patient education and readiness to accept information important in the healing process. Every patient education interface is influenced by cultural dimensions (McCuaig et al., 2021). The family’s attitude and support significantly impact whether patients will follow advice and information presented by healthcare officials. For example, a mother may object to breastfeeding if the husband emphasizes her figure or the family members consider it obsolete.
Approaches the Health care Professional can use to address Religious and Cultural diversity
Health care professionals can address religious and cultural diversity by having a degree of awareness for culturally competent care, avoiding making assumptions about unfamiliar cultures, learning about other cultures and educating patients about medical practices. Establishing trust with patients, practicing active listening, and understanding their culture is also significant.
Types of illiteracy
Illiteracy can be divided into health, cultural, racial and perception illiteracies. Additionally, there is physical illiteracy and mental illiteracy.
Illiteracy as a disability
The inability to read or write does not qualify as a disability under UDA unless it results from a mental or physical impairment (Jones et al., 2019). For example, conditions such as stroke and severe learning disability that leave someone unable to read are considered as a disability. Nevertheless, disability does not apply when one’s incompetence in reading is due to social, cultural, and economic factors.
Examples of myths about illiteracy
False beliefs about illiteracy have continued to erode people’s minds. For instance, some believe that illiteracy is dominant in dyslexic individuals, the elderly and immigrants, and people from developing countries. Others view illiterate people as not competent in life, and they usually produce illiterate children.
How to assess illiteracy skills and evaluate written material for readability
Health officials have a significant task to understand whether patients have low health literacy skills. This knowledge is vital to match verbal instructions and the readability level of materials to the health literacy skills of the patient. The use of assessment questions helps to identify low health literacy skills, and the newest vital sign detects patients with low literacy.
The newest vital sign is a screening test designed for comprehension skills, numeracy, and general literacy (Shah et al., 2010). The test has an ice cream label container and takes three minutes to administer. As the patient read the label, the health officials ask three questions on their perception of information. A score of less than three on a scoring sheet identifies patients with low health literacy.
Ways a health care professional may establish effective communication
For effective communication, health care officials should use simple language, ask open-ended questions, and use the Tech-Back method for patients with low literacy to expand their understanding. It is also significant to establish a dialogue with patients, listen by paying attention, and create room to understand non-verbal signs such as body and facial expression.
Ways a health care professional can help a patient remember instruction
Health care professionals should encourage patients to take notes, create room for virtual communication, and provide picture illustrations or infographics. Health officials can also engage patients by adding an online presence with a text notification.
References
Jones, F. G., Gifford, D., Yovanoff, P., Al Otaiba, S., Levy, D., & Allor, J. (2019). Alternate assessment formats for progress monitoring students with intellectual disabilities and below average IQ: An exploratory study. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 34(1), 41-51.
Ragusa, A., Ushiro, S., Svelato, A., Strambi, N., & Di Tommaso, M. (2021). Obstetric Safety Patient. In Textbook of Patient Safety and Clinical Risk Management (pp. 205-212). Springer, Cham.
McCuaig, L., Enright, E., Rossi, T., & Macdonald, D. (2021). Teachers as Health Workers: A Critical Understanding of the Health-Education Interface.
Shah, L. C., West, P., Bremmeyr, K., & Savoy-Moore, R. T. (2010). Health literacy instrument in family medicine: the “newest vital sign” ease of use and correlates. The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 23(2), 195-203.
